When you were a kid, did you ever hear someone tell an angry kid, “[O]h, go soak your head!” That always sounded to me like a suggestion to “go cool off”, to someone who was acting “hot headed”. Another one was, “[O]h, go jump in a lake!” The idea of getting soaked, as an attitude adjustment, was popular.

Who knew it would turn out that soaking could be good for you? Yes! It turns out that hot soaks not only feel good, but they can detox you, soothe your moods, and relieve your stress, aches and pains. Here are 8 top tips for an ideal soak:

Fill the tub with water at your “ahhhhh” temperature, which might be 103 degrees. Use a candy thermometer to tell you the temperature, once you have it perfect. Then you can target that temperature for your next soak.

Use 1-4 cups of Epsom Salts (magnesium salts). These restore the mineral balance in your skin and muscles, plus pulling out the toxins, so you literally feel better.

If you have the dry, itchy skin of winter, don’t use perfumed bubble bath. For annoyingly itchy skin, add colloidal oatmeal (in packets from major drugstores-ask the pharmacist

Set a timer for 20 minutes, and stay in at least that long, to give the muscles and Epsom Salts time to commune.

If you love soaking, read while you soak, but only paper magazines and books. You can even buy a special shelf to put across the tub, to hold your wine or tea and your reading material. Journaling can be great, too, but again, no phones or electronics, all of which hate soaking.

You can keep running hot water in, and cool water out, and just keep soaking until about the 40-minute mark. Your skin will tell you if you have soaked too long.

So try weekly soaks to melt away your stress, and soon you’ll be back in your upbeat living!

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● Kebba Buckley Button is the author of the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition). Keep this book with you constantly, to quickly recharge your Peace Within, with quotes, photos, and poems that take you directly there! Kebba is a corporate stress management trainer, and she also has a holistic healing practice.

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Brenda, thank you! And thanks for the tip about animals. I think, if my pet were squirmy, I would soak a cloth in Epsom Salts solution and hold the pet while holding the compress gently on the cuts. Thank you for the inspiration!